Super Bowl Sunday, aka “The Other Christmas” in America. I had my flights setup so that I could get home and indulge in as many dips as possible while watching the game and rooting for any team that had the opportunity to beat the Patriots. Alas the airplane, weather and football Gods had other plans for me because my flights got delayed and jerked around and, sadly, the Patriots won. Fortunately for me, though, on my flight from DC to Syracuse I met an airplane friend – Jesse.

Jesse and I were snugged up in the exit row for an hour longer than we should have been because Washington Dulles Airport (IAD) could not get their stuff together. The two of us looked like two lovable hipsters from Brooklyn with our newsie hats, beards, and horn-rimmed glasses. I forget how our conversation started, but I am glad it did.

Jesse is originally from Los Angeles and he went to school at Humboldt State in NorCal. He studied literature there and met his future wife in the process. He proposed to his wife on stage at a concert of a former hardcore turned singer/songwriter artist. Jesse had reached out to the artist when he heard he was going to be in LA. He agreed and suggested that Jesse come up during one of his songs. That was Jesse’s least favorite song by the artist but beggars can’t be choosers so he agreed. After their engagement he and his wife got married in a barn in central California.

For a few years after undergrad Jesse was a freelance programmer. He would alternate between taking jobs that paid well and jobs that were in the non-profit sector. He is passionate about energy conservation. When that became unfulfilling both he and his then girlfriend/fiancée decided they wanted to go back to school, her for library sciences and him for 18th Century Literature. They applied to a bunch of the same schools, she got into every one and he only got into Syracuse, so that’s where they chose! She received her masters and now works as a archivist for one of Syracuse University’s specialized collections. Jesse just finished is dissertation and is well on his way to being Dr. Jesse.

I asked him why he chose 18th Century Literature as his focus. He said he is actually studying food in 18th Century Literature. So he had read a ton of historical cookbooks as well as other pieces written during that time. He said the reason this fascinated him is because he has found that it is during the 18th Century when culturally based cuisines began to be celebrated and assimilated into other cultures. For example, the signature curry dishes of India started being made in European nations and being referred to as “Indian food.”

We talked a lot about food, which was just fine with me. I found out that Jesse does not really like barbecue, which broke my heart a little, especially because he lives minutes from one of the best BBQ joints in the country, the original Dinosaur BBQ. So we talked about foie gras, sweetbreads, Napa valley wines, how we both want to eat our way around Montreal, and how he hates all beer from New York.

Jesee has taken his passion for food and culture one step further than most with the help of his background in programming. He recently developed a program that tracks what ingredients and colors are most prominent in cultural cuisines. By using it you can punch in the ingredients of a dish and find out what nationality it is most likely derived from.

Other fun facts are that Jesse is obsessed with Soccer. The LA Galaxy is his favorite team and he actually has a tattoo of their logo. Indian is the culture he is the most fascinated by and the country he wants to visit the most. He has been to Burma a number of times because that is where his mother was born. Sadly, though, he never traveled there as an adult who was excited about diving into the culture. He is hoping to find a professor job somewhere in the Pacific Northwest after he is done at Syracuse I hope that whatever tenure-track position Jesse is able to land after completing his doctorate allows him to travel, until then, though, I am just glad we are airplane friends.